Gunstock cartridge holder



July 19, 1949. J. 1.. BROWN GUNSTOCK CARTRIDGE HOLDER Filed March 50,1948 VA d 2 W a 0% H O O m a o O 0 B O O 0 Patented July 19, 1949 UNITEDSTATES FATENT FlCE STOCK CARTRIDGE HOLDER John L. Brown, Lacon, Ala. V

Application March'30, 1948, Serial No. 18,000

' V 1 Claim, (01. f12-7l) This invention relates to a cartridge holderfor a 22-caliber, single-shot rifle, and particularlyfor the butt orstock of the rifle.

:- The main object of the invention is to provide the stock of a riflewith a special cartridge holder whichenables the hunter using the rifleto insert a supply of cartridges into a portion of the stock thereofwhich retains the cartridges in unobtrusive', yet accessible, positionfor individually extracting them for use in loading the rifle,

Another object is to form the comb of the stock of a rifle into a pluralreceptacle for a group of cartridges which tend to remain suspendedtherein by force of rav y 7 V A further object is to have the comb orcrest of a rifle stock provided with a series of recesses or receptaclesfor receiving a roup of cartridges point down and having retainingsprings for fricticnally retaining the individual cartridges in placeuntil deliberately withdrawn for use in the rifle.

It is also an object of the invention to have a cartridge holder of theindicated character which can be installed upon existing rifle stocks ofany accepted form and of difierent sizes without having to resort to anew design of rifle stock.

It is, of course, likewise an object of the invention to have such acartridge holder which is simple, effective and convenient and whichimproves the appearance of the rifle, while being reasonable in cost.

Other objects and advantages will appear as the specification proceeds.

In order to bring out more comprehensively the features of theinvention, the latter is illustrated on the accompanying drawing formingpart hereof, and in which:

F gure 1 is a side elevation of a 22-caliber, sinle-shot rifle with thebarrel broken off to reduce the view and emphasize the rifle stockforming the locale of the invention;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the same as seen from the top in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a transverse section taken on line 3-3 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a longitudinal section taken on line 44 of Figure 3.

In the four views, the same reference numerals indicate the same or likeparts.

Sportsmen well know that when out hunting or on a shooting range, it isoften important to have convenient and speedy access to a supply ofcartridges for reloading a rifle, and especially a 22-caliber,single-shot rifle. Sometimes cartridge belts are worn, or boxes ofcartridges carried, and in this connection many makeshift-ls have beenresorted to, but each of these methods of supplying the cartridges forfrequent reloading cf the rifle also entails inconveniences and evendelays and loss .of time. In fact, most of such cxpcdients areextraneous with respect to the rifle used'and complicate handling of thelatter, which is obviously a seriousmatter not to be tolerated, if atall avoidable.

However, I have found it easily possible to provide a supply ofcartridges for the rifle used by a hunter or sportsman which presentsthe cartridges-in convenient and instantly accessible position whilekeeping the entire supply in such unobtrusive condition that noinconvenience or dis-advantage is involved in any manner, as I shall nowproceed'to describe in detail. 7 a

In the practice of my invention; and referring new again totheaccompanying drawings, a 22- caliber, single-shot rifle, generallyindicated at 5, has a more or less conventional rifle butt or stock 6,at the rear end 1 of which is a concave portion adapted to be heldagainst the shoulder when the rifle is aimed and fired. The comb orcrest of the rifle stock is formed with a series of upwardly open boresor receptacles 9, 9, While at the upper edge of each bore is secured theanchoring end ID of a pendent friction spring II by means of a screw l2for engaging against the side of a cartridge l3 when the latter has beeninserted with the bullet I4 pendently pointing downward, the springserving to prevent accidental displacement of the cartridge in eachcase, but not preventing manual removal thereof when desired. Eachspring is slightly recessed into the wood of the rifle stock and theadjacent side of each hole or receptacle has a spring recess l5 intowhich the pendent portion ll of the corresponding spring will seat whenthe cartridge is inserted. If desired, tallow or some other lubricantmay be introduced into the holes to lubricate the cartridge and/or theballs stored in the same.

In order to retain the cartridge receptacles or holes 9 in perfectcondition and further prevent wear at the upper edges thereof, despitesuch lubrication, and also to insure perfect alignment of the entireseries of cartridges to be carried in the rifle stock, the comb of thelatter is capped by a transversely-arcuate metal strip or cap plate I6secured to the stock by nails or screws H, H. This cap plate covers thespring portion I0 and securing screws l2, but has a series of holes oropenings l 8 registering with receptacles 9, so that the cartridgeinserted into one of the latter will be suspended therein with its rearflange l9 resting directly on this cap plate.

When the rifle stock is fully loaded up with a supply of cartridges, asshown in Figures 1 and 2, it is self-evident that as the cartridge isrequired for placing in the breech of the rifle, it is simply a meretwist of the wrist to remove a cartridge 13 by pulling it up out of oneof the receptacles 9 and then placing it in the breech of the rifle in aconventional manner, when the rifle is instantly ready for aiming andfiring. Such withdrawal of cartridges in succession is convenient,instantly and easily performed and does not produce any obtrusive orprojecting portion or change in the outline of the rifle, nor in thehandling of the same in any way, but rather falls naturally in line withthe normal handling of said rifle.

Obviously, the rifle stock may be made of plastic or cast or formedmetal, or of any other suitable material, and when of Wood, the capplate may be made of metal or plastic or other material. The cartridgeholder may be applied to rifles of larger than 22-caliber, and still bewithin the spirit of the invention. Also, the number of bores orreceptacles for the cartridges may be varied to suit the size of therifle stock involved and the sizes of the receptacles gauged accordingto the particular size of the cartridges used on the rifle associatedwith the stock.

Manifestly, variations may be resorted to and parts and features may bemodified or used without others within the scope of the appended claim.

Having now fully described my invention, I claim:

In a rifle stock cartridge holder associated with the stock of a rifle,and comprising a plurality of upwardly-open, cylindrical cartridgereceptacles extending a limited distance down into said stock from thecomb portion thereof for supporting a supply of cartridges in invertedposition with the noses down, a cap plate attached to the comb of therifle stock having a series of apertures registering with the upperopenings of the cylindrical cartridge receptacles, anddownwardly-directed resilient means in the latter for frictionallyengaging with and retaining the cartridges in said cylindricalreceptacles, the features which include having recessed seats upon thecomb portion of said rifle stock beneath the cap plate adj acent to eachupper opening of said cylindrical receptacles and adjoiningdownwardly-extending spring recesses in the side walls of the latterconnecting with the recessed seats, having the resilient means formingdepending springs adapted to extend down into the downwardly-extendingspring recesses in the cylindrical receptacles with upper anchoring endsthereon bent at an angle thereto and individually secured in saidrecessed seats. having each cylindrical receptacle of substantially thesame cross-sectional area as that of the corresponding aperture in saidcap platefor suspending a cartridge therein by resting the rear flangeof the cartridge upon the cap plate and having each cylindricalreceptacle sufliciently deep to support the cartridge solely byits uppersuspension from said cap plate with the bullet nose thereof spaced fromthe bottom. of the cylindrical receptacle involved. 7

JOHN L. BROWN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 84,651 Smith Dec. 1, 1868 394,376Kelton Dec. 11, 1888 711,989 Marble Oct. 28, 1902

